Another card from K-Designers - but this time they admit who they are.

Back in March 2006 I received a postcard thing from K-Designers and posted a bit about it. A bit later in July 2006 someone tried to defend the advertising practice and I posted a response pointing out why it was scammy. Another card showed up in August and I posted scans of it to point out problems. And then, other then the odd reply to those entries, including some blatant astroturfing in 2008, I hadn't heard any more from K-Designers.

Until today when another, different, card showed up in the mail. It's still a "FREE GIFT!" that I am supposed to "Call IMMEDIATELY" to receive and the "FREE is still repeated. It's still AUTO 5-DIGIT which indicates a mass mailing. There are some changes, however. The silly fake-cursive attempt at personalization is gone as is the claim that they have been trying to reach me. The phone number is listed by number and as 1-800-SAVE-902 so it indicates something for sale if only barely. Also, there is nothing indicating just what the "free gift" might be. I suspect it's not free, except in the narrow monetary sense: One would have to endure a sales pitch.

The biggest change is that there is a return address that even has K-Designers' logo on it. They finally admit just who they are and they claim to be a "home remodeling leader" as part of their registered trademark. Curiously there is also a fine print list of states and what appear to be building permit numbers. The one for MN (20138685) appears to be for siding permit in Mountain Lake.

With these change, has my opinion of K-Designers changed? Only slightly if at all. The first impression was made, twice, and the comments on earlier posts only served to confirm my suspicions - especially some of the comments attempting to defend K-Designers' practices. The amazingly poor attempt at astroturfing didn't help, either. This new card does at least identify the sender, but it is still just a ploy to get folks to call them as a means of getting around Do Not Call legislation.